Evaluation: Judge Sarah Singleton received very high scores in all areas from attorneys, and she received positive scores from resource staff (e.g., law enforcement, probation and parole officers, interpreters, etc.).

When she returned a phone message from Legate, Singleton has said, she recommended possible lawyers to handle matters on appeal and a possible theory of appellate review.

Before recusing, she had disclosed, via email, to all parties in the case the ex parte phone call with plaintiff’s lawyer Sam Legate of El Paso that took place the morning after the jury’s decision.

“But I certainly didn’t need to give any sort of clue as to what could be researched on the issues,” she said.

In a subsequent court hearing over the phone call, a lawyer for Fed Ex said the call reflected a “coziness” with Legate and that the judge had gone from umpire to “batting coach.”Singleton said at the hearing that she didn’t know if she should have hung up on Legate.

Documents attached to the commission’s petition to the high court include a May letter from Singleton to commission chair Joyce Bustos explaining the improper phone conversation and what happened afterward.